March 26, 2008

• The maradox continues.  Here is a paradox concerning voting. 

  It is true that the more people who vote, the less your vote will matter.  Obviously if only three people, including yourself, vote, your vote is tremendously more significant than if fifty million people vote.  Thus, for every person who votes, your vote loses significance.  But that means if you vote, your vote decreases your own vote’s significance. 

  If you want the most significant vote possible, then you shouldn’t vote, since your vote loses significance when you vote.  But that’s paradoxical.  One could say that an uncast vote has no significance, and therefore isn’t more significant than a cast vote.  Even in this case, however, it remains true that the casting of your vote lessens the significance of itself, since the more votes there are, the less your vote matters. 

  Therefore, from the two statements ‘You ought to vote’ and ‘Your vote lessens the significance of your vote’ we can derive the paradox ‘You ought to lessen the significance of your vote.’

  Wow.  That was quite fun.  What do you think, friends?

  • 12:55 pm
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